HSBC Reports Being Under Investigation For Illegal Money Transactions Connected With Iran (Reuters):

HSBC Holdings Plc said on Monday it will likely face criminal or civil charges from an expanding investigation into its ties to allegedly illegal money transactions, including some tied to Iran.The disclosure in a regulatory filing shows the increasingly serious nature of inquiries into the London-based bank’s business.HSBC already is the subject of multiple U.S. law-enforcement probes for ties to illegal money transactions. Monday’s filing was the first time the bank disclosed that Iranian transactions are under scrutiny and that it could face a criminal charge.

The bank’s HSBC USA Inc unit said investigations are being conducted by the Justice Department, the district attorney in Manhattan, two Treasury department agencies and the Federal Reserve. It said those inquiries were examining “historical transactions involving Iranian parties and other parties subject to” U.S. economic sanctions. Financial institutions doing business in the United States are prohibited from aiding sanctioned countries or banks.

In recent years, the Manhattan district attorney and Justice Department have settled with a number of European banks that operated transfer systems for Iranian clients. Banks aided clients trying to improperly move money by removing, or stripping out, references that could tip off a U.S. bank system to a transaction tied to Iran or another sanctioned state.

HSBC disclosed the new details in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as part of the bank’s 2011 annual results. HSBC USA provides commercial and consumer banking and operates 461 branches. The bank previously said in securities filings that it was facing inquiries and it had received grand jury subpoenas.

In October 2010, HSBC Bank USA entered into a consent cease and desist order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the indirect parent of that company, HNAH, entered into a consent cease and desist order with the Federal Reserve Board. These actions require improvements for an effective compliance risk management programme across the Group’s US businesses, including US Bank Secrecy Act (‘BSA’) and Anti Money Laundering (‘AML’) compliance. Steps continue to be taken to address the requirements of these Orders to ensure compliance, and that effective policies and procedures are maintained.

The AML/BSA consent cease and desist orders do not preclude additional enforcement actions against HSBC Bank USA or HNAH by bank regulatory or law enforcement agencies, including the imposition of civil money penalties, criminal fines and other sanctions relating to activities that are the subject of the AML/BSA cease and desist orders. HSBC continues to cooperate in ongoing investigations by the DoJ, the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in connection with AML/BSA compliance including cross-border transactions involving its remittance and its former bulk cash businesses.

HSBC continues to cooperate in ongoing investigations by the DoJ, the New York County District Attorney’s Office, the Office of Foreign Asset Control (‘OFAC’), the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency regarding historical transactions involving Iranian parties and other parties subject to OFAC economic sanctions.

In April 2011, HSBC Bank USA received a summons from the US Internal Revenue Service directing HSBC Bank USA to produce records with respect to US-based clients of an HSBC Group company in India. While the summons was withdrawn voluntarily, HSBC Bank USA has cooperated fully by providing responsive documents in its possession in the US to the US Internal Revenue Service, and engaging in efforts to resolve these matters.

HSBC continues to cooperate in ongoing investigations by the DoJ and the US Internal Revenue Service regarding whether certain Group companies acted appropriately in relation to certain customers who had US tax reporting requirements.

In April 2011, HSBC Bank USA received a subpoena from the SEC directing HSBC Bank USA to produce records in the US related to, among other things, HSBC Private Bank Suisse SA’s cross-border policies and procedures and adherence to US broker-dealer and investment adviser rules and regulations when dealing with US resident clients. HSBC Bank USA continues to cooperate with the SEC.

HSBC continues to cooperate with an investigation by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations related to AML/BSA compliance, OFAC sanctions and compliance with US tax and securities laws.

In each of these US regulatory and law enforcement matters, HSBC Group companies have received Grand Jury subpoenas or other requests for information from US Government or other agencies, and HSBC is cooperating fully and engaging in efforts to resolve matters. It is likely that there will be some form of formal enforcement action which may be criminal or civil in nature in respect of some or all of the ongoing investigations. Investigations of several other financial institutions in recent years for breaches of BSA, AML and OFAC requirements have resulted in settlements. Some of those settlements involved the filing of criminal charges, in some cases including agreements to defer prosecution of these charges, and the imposition of fines and penalties. Some of those fines and penalties have been significant depending on the individual circumstances of each action. The investigations are ongoing. Based on the facts currently known, it is not practicable at this time for HSBC to determine the terms on which the ongoing investigations will be resolved or the timing of such resolution or for HSBC to estimate reliably the amounts, or range of possible amounts, of any fines and/or penalties. As matters progress, it is possible that any fines and/or penalties could be significant.

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US mortgage-related investigations

In April 2011, HSBC Bank USA entered into a consent cease and desist order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and HSBC Finance and HSBC North America Holdings Inc (‘HNAH’) entered into a similar consent order with the Federal Reserve Board following completion of a broad horizontal review of industry residential mortgage foreclosure practices. These consent orders require prescribed actions to address the deficiencies noted in the joint examination and described in the consent orders. HSBC Bank USA, HSBC Finance and HNAH continue to work with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Board to align their processes with the requirements of the consent orders and are implementing operational changes as required.

These consent orders require an independent review of foreclosures pending or completed between January 2009 and December 2010 (the ‘Foreclosure Review Period’) to determine if any customer was financially injured as a result of an error in the foreclosure process. Customer outreach efforts are required, including mailings to customers and industry media advertising, to notify borrowers with foreclosures pending or completed during the Foreclosure Review Period of the foreclosure complaint review process and their ability to request a review of their foreclosure proceeding. The costs associated with the foreclosure review include the costs of conducting the customer outreach plan and complaint process, and the cost of any resulting remediation.

These consent orders do not preclude additional enforcement actions against HSBC Bank USA, HSBC Finance or HNAH by bank regulatory, governmental or law enforcement agencies, such as the US Department of Justice (‘DoJ’) or State Attorneys General, which could include the imposition of civil money penalties and other sanctions relating to the activities that are the subject of the consent orders. The Federal Reserve Board has indicated in a press release relating to the financial services industry in general that it believes monetary penalties are appropriate for the enforcement actions and that it plans to announce such penalties. An increase in private litigation concerning these practices is also possible.

It has been announced that the five largest US mortgage servicers (not including HSBC) have reached a settlement with the DoJ, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and State Attorneys General of 49 states with respect to foreclosure and other mortgage servicing practices. HNAH, HSBC Bank USA and HSBC Finance have had preliminary discussions with bank regulators and other governmental agencies regarding a potential resolution, although the timing of any settlement is not presently known. Based on discussions to date, HSBC recognised provisions of US$257m in the fourth quarter of 2011 to reflect the estimated liability associated with a proposed settlement of this matter. Any such settlement, however, may not completely preclude other enforcement actions by state or federal agencies, regulators or law enforcement bodies related to foreclosure and other mortgage servicing practices, including, but not limited to matters relating to the securitisation of mortgages for investors, including the imposition of civil money penalties, criminal fines or other sanctions. In addition, such a settlement would not preclude private litigation concerning these practices.

Participants in the US mortgage securitisation market that purchased and repackaged whole loans have been the subject of lawsuits and governmental and regulatory investigations and inquiries, which have been directed at groups within the US mortgage market, such as servicers, originators, underwriters, trustees or sponsors of securitisations, and at particular participants within these groups. As the industry’s residential mortgage foreclosure issues continue, HSBC Bank USA has taken title to an increasing number of foreclosed homes as trustee on behalf of various securitisation trusts. As nominal record owner of these properties, HSBC Bank USA has been sued by municipalities and tenants alleging various violations of law, including laws regarding property upkeep and tenants’ rights. While HSBC believes and continues to maintain that the obligations at issue and the related liability are properly those of the servicer of each trust, HSBC continues to receive significant and adverse publicity in connection with these and similar matters, including foreclosures that are serviced by others in the name of ‘HSBC, as trustee’.

HSBC Bank USA and HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. have been named as defendants in a number of actions in connection with residential mortgage-backed securities (‘RMBS’) offerings, which generally allege that the offering documents for securities issued by securitisation trusts contained material misstatements and omissions, including statements regarding the underwriting standards governing the underlying mortgage loans. These include an action filed in September 2011 by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. This action is one of a series of similar actions filed against 17 financial institutions alleging violations of federal securities laws and state statutory and common law in connection with the sale of private-label RMBS purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, primarily from 2005 to 2008.

HSBC Bank USA has received subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) seeking production of documents and information relating to its involvement and the involvement of its affiliates in specified private-label RMBS transactions as an issuer, sponsor, underwriter, depositor, trustee, custodian or servicer. HSBC Bank USA has also had preliminary contacts with other government authorities exploring the role of trustees in private label RMBS transactions. HSBC Bank USA also received a subpoena from the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York seeking production of documents and information relating to loss mitigation efforts with respect to residential mortgages in the State of New York and a Civil Investigative Demand from the Massachusetts State Attorney General seeking documents, information and testimony related to the sale of RMBS to public and private customers in the State of Massachusetts from January 2005 to the present.

HSBC expects this level of focus will continue and, potentially, intensify, so long as the US real estate markets continue to be distressed. As a result, HSBC Group companies may be subject to additional litigation and governmental and regulatory scrutiny related to its participation in the US mortgage securitisation market, either individually or as a member of a group. HSBC is unable to estimate reliably the financial effect of any action or litigation relating to these matters. As situations develop it is possible that any related claims could be significant.

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we are in forecloser . but they took 3.000 dollares it was a morgage paymament that how we ended up in forecloseher i live in denver colorado and the city of denver has allready tried to put us out .my mothers name is clarisa price she passed awaywe could not recover from the money they took from us thats why we are being foreslosed on